


Can You Feel My Heart

by stellarmeadow



Series: Heartbeat [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Crack, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 10:57:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1223695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarmeadow/pseuds/stellarmeadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny tries to figure out why Steve's acting weird. The answer is not what he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah...I don't know how to explain this. Drugs, maybe? It's complicated...but I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Huge thanks to [uxseven](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ignemferam/pseuds/uxseven) and [smudgegirl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Smudgegirl/pseuds/Smudgegirl) for the cheerleading and to [smudgegirl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Smudgegirl/pseuds/Smudgegirl) for the awesome beta job! :)

"Aren't you hungry?" Danny asked.

Steve looked at Danny's burger as if it was roasted rat. "No. I'll eat later."

Danny paused in his enjoyment of what was, for Hawaii, an excellent burger, to look closely at Steve. He looked pale, with shadows under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept. Which for Steve, who liked to think that sleep was for wusses, was saying something. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He was almost convincing. "Just a little under the weather."

"I thought SEALs weren't allowed to get under the weather," Danny said. "I thought it was against the rules."

"Sorry. They taught us how to fight a lot of things, but viruses weren't one of them."

Danny studied him for a moment longer before shrugging. "Okay," he said, as if he was going to let it go. If Steve didn't realize he was being watched, he'd be more likely to give something away.

Steve's phone rang, and he answered, listened, and said, "On the way." 

Danny looked down at his burger, only half eaten. "I'm taking it with me," he said, grabbing it and his soda and following Steve to the car.

"Really?" Steve said, splitting his attention between Danny and the road. "You're eating that horrible smelling thing in the car?"

"Okay, a, there is something wrong with you? Because this burger smells delicious. And b, yes, I am eating in the car. Or, more specifically, my car. It is _my_ car. I will eat in it if I want to. If you want to drive it, you'll have to deal."

Steve made what was almost a low growl in the back of his throat, but he said nothing else as he took a curve so fast Danny's head hit the window. He wasn't sure if he was proud or worried that he was so used to it he didn't even drop his food.

"Besides," Danny said, "the way you drive, any meal could be my last, so I might as well eat it in the car that will eventually be my tomb."

Steve glanced at him. "I thought you said I was going to get you shot to death."

"That was Wednesday. This is Friday." 

He saw the corner of Steve's mouth quirk up. "What am I going to do to cause your death on Thursdays?"

"Freak grenade mishap."

Steve laughed, and Danny relaxed just a little. He couldn't be that bad off if he was laughing, right?

He still watched Steve carefully all the way to the crime scene.

***

Investigating homicides generally included blood, but fortunately most scenes weren't nearly as disgustingly gory as the ones in movies. Unfortunately, this one was.

Despite the ability to ignore the scene and focus on solving the crime that every detective hones, even Danny felt a little ill at the sight that greeted them. Four bodies lay strewn around the floor, full of holes, much like the walls and furniture around them. There was no way to tell where one body's blood ended and another began. 

Chin came up to them, face grim. "Looks like there's a war brewing," he said. 

"Great. Just what we need," Danny said. "But this definitely looks like a battlefield." 

He glanced at Steve, but instead of his usual businesslike demeanor, Steve was staring at the scene with a look that was vaguely familiar. It took Danny a moment to place it, because he only saw it rarely, maybe a couple of times a year, when Steve was more on edge than usual. 

Steve swallowed carefully before averting his eyes from the scene to look at Danny and Chin. "Yakuza?" he asked.

Chin nodded, and Danny sighed. "If these guys are Yakuza," Danny said, "then I don't want to know what the retribution to the people who did this is going to look like."

"It's not going to be pretty," Chin said. 

Danny looked at Steve, but he was looking at the scene again with that face. "Hey, Steve?" When he didn't answer, Danny snapped fingers right in front of Steve's face.

Steve jumped like Danny had slapped him. "Sorry, what?"

"You okay?"

He gave a little shudder and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah, I'm just...I need some air. I'll be back."

Danny watched him leave the room a little unsteadily, almost like he was forcing himself to go. "Did that seem odd to you?" he asked Chin.

"It's Steve," Chin said, and Danny turned to see him shrugging. 

"Even for him that was odd." Danny looked back at the scene. "We're not going to get much from here are we?"

Chin shook his head. "CSU might have better luck, but finding evidence without contaminating the scene would be hard for us. We did, however, ID one of the vics." Chin held up his phone, showing a mug shot and rap sheet for Hikuru Sato. 

Danny scanned the list. "That's a long list for a low-level Yakuza."

"Which is why I'm thinking he's a little higher than that," Chin said.

"And the higher the victim..."

"The higher the body count in retaliation," Chin finished. "Kono's already tracing his movements the last few days back at HQ. We can start there while we wait for info from CSU."

Danny nodded. "I'll get Steve and meet you there."

He went outside and looked around until he found Steve, standing alone and off to the side, looking out at the water. Danny crossed the grass until he was close enough to put his hand on Steve's shoulder. 

Steve whipped around, grabbing Danny's wrist in a hard grip. "Danny?"

"Hey," Danny said quietly, staying still. "It's just me. You wanna loosen up the grip there, Superman?"

Steve blinked a few times and let Danny go. "Shit, sorry. I'm just...." 

"Yeah, I get it," Danny said, even though he didn't. But he wasn't going to touch whatever this was in front of HPD at a crime scene he thought might've triggered it in the first place. "Maybe you should go home for a little while." 

"No, I'll be fine. We need to get through this case. I'll take a day tomorrow if I need to."

Something else he only did maybe once or twice a year, when he was more on edge than usual. Danny trampled the urge to dig until he got answers. He may have only dealt with this a few times, but he recognized the pattern. Steve would probably actually take the day off and then he would probably be his normal self again--or as normal as he got anyway. 

"Okay," Danny said carefully, because for all that Steve wanted to get through the case, he was tense, and seemed to be twitchy. Like every sound was something to be checked out and defended against. He reminded Danny of a German Shepherd he'd had as a kid, constantly cocking his head and twisting his ears, alert to every sight, smell and sound as a possible threat.

Steve cleared his throat. "Let's go." 

Danny fell into step beside him, staying close all the way to the car, just in case. 

***

Danny spent most of the drive back to HQ trying to decide if he wanted to bring up the weird reaction Steve had to the crime scene. On the one hand, they couldn't afford to have Steve zone out like that in a firefight. On the other, Steve probably had some kind of shrink on base with some high level clearance that he talked to about shit like this.

Maybe that's where he went when he took his days off. Maybe once they got through the case Steve would go see whoever he saw when he disappeared, and deal with this, and he'd be back to normal until the next time. 

Danny wasn't stupid. He knew Steve had seen some stuff Danny couldn't possibly imagine, for all that he'd seen on the job. And he knew about PTSD. One of his former colleagues in Jersey, Art Showalter, had been ex-Army. One day he'd gone into a crime scene and zoned out like that. 

The next morning they got a call to his house for his suicide. 

So, he'd make sure Steve went to his shrink the next day and it would be fine. That's all he needed. 

***

The case turned out to be a series of dead end leads. Not a lot of difference between the ongoing fight with the Yakuza in Hawaii and the ongoing fight with the mob in Jersey. The accents and temperatures changed, but the never-ending fight didn't. Danny would wonder at the futility of it, except he looked at it like cockroaches--you'd never get rid of them, but if you didn't control the population they'd take over the earth.

With no more leads to follow, they left at a relatively early time for them on case days. Steve pulled up to his house in the Camaro just before midnight, turning to Danny. "I think I'm going to take the day off tomorrow unless something urgent comes up," he said. "Night."

He got out without another word. Danny got out, watching Steve all the way into the house before jogging around to the other side of the car, getting in and adjusting the seat, and heading home.

***

Danny slept in on Saturday. They were waiting for information to come in on the scene the day before, but CSU had said it might be Sunday or Monday before they had anything conclusive. HPD had surveillance running on the usual hot spots and was going to notify 5-0 if any activity started brewing. 

With Grace at Rachel's for the weekend, Danny would normally be heading to Steve's once he was up and about and had checked in with Grace. He waited until lunchtime, though, to call and check in with Steve, since he hadn't been feeling well. 

Steve didn't answer.

By three, Danny was worried. Even if he wasn't planning to work, Steve had said he would if something was urgent. And even if it wasn't, he didn't usually duck Danny's calls. 

Maybe it hadn't been a psychological thing after all. Maybe he was sick, and he couldn't get to the phone. Or worse.

Danny remembered Showalter again. 

"Fuck it." 

He put his shoes on, grabbed his keys, and hurried out to the car.

***

Steve's house was quiet. His truck was right where it had been when Danny had left the night before. Danny tried the door, but it was locked--at least he'd done that. 

Using his key, Danny walked into the house. "Steve?" he called, not wanting to scare the guy. "Hey, Steve!"

He checked the back, but the door to the lanai was locked, so Steve wasn't out swimming. He went carefully up the stairs, calling out again, but there was no answer. There was also no sign of Steve when Danny entered his room. 

The bathroom door was ajar, though, the light on. Danny approached it carefully, pushing it open enough to see Steve, lying on the floor, a towel around his waist, a knife and a small silver box lying next to him. 

"Steve!" Danny knelt down beside him. He was ice cold and practically grey, and when Danny checked his neck, there was no pulse. "Steven, come on!" 

Danny started to lie him out flat, but before he could, Steve gasped for air, his eyes opening, their color altered to almost white. He looked around, sniffing the air, before he focused on Danny's face. "Danny?"

He sounded odd. "Yeah, it's me. What happened?"

"I, uh," he looked around, spotting the knife and box, and lifted his hand to his mouth. "Uh...shit."

Danny slipped a hand around Steve's wrist. "Hey, you want to get off the floor maybe, huh? It's cold down here. You're cold."

Danny gripped Steve's wrist tighter, frowning when something felt wrong. He focused for a moment and then realized what it was. "Uh, Steve," he said, his fingers feeling for the thick veins just below Steve's wrist, "I don't want to alarm you, but I can't find your pulse."

"Fuck," Steve said, jerking his hand out of Danny's. He picked up the box and knife and stood, pushing past Danny and into the bedroom, looking awfully steady for a dead guy.

Danny rubbed his eyes and looked again, but Steve was still upright. He put the box and knife on the nightstand and sat down, elbows on his knees, before dropping his head into his hands. The pose left the towel around his waist open just enough that Danny had to avert his eyes--the last thing he needed was his libido in the way of all...this. Whatever this was.

Grabbing the edge of the vanity, Danny pulled himself to his feet and joined Steve, sitting down beside him on the bed. "So..." he said, after a moment, "anything you want to tell me?"

Steve sighed heavily, showing an impressive set of lungs for a dead guy. "I really never found an easy way to say this," he said, turning his head just enough to meet Danny's eyes. "I'm a vampire."

"Right, because the way you soak in the sun like a special sun sponge screams vampire. Also, I noticed how you go around biting everyone on the neck." Not that Danny would complain if Steve bit his neck, but actually breaking the skin and drinking his blood wasn't really what he had in mind. "What's really going on?"

Steve just gave him a steady look. "I," he said carefully, "am a vampire."

"Okay, really, is whatever going on so bad that you have to resort to this as--"

In a flash, Steve's eyes went white and he made some kind of noise between a growl and a hiss as he flashed a set of--holy fuck, fangs, at Danny. Danny scrambled back and fell off the bed, landing in an ungainly heap on the floor. "Jesus!" he said, grabbing at his heart. "Fucking warn a guy, would you?"

Steve's mouth was closed, but his eyes were still that strange whitish color, and his expression...forget his old German Shepherd. Danny had been with a team back in Jersey that had broken up a dog fighting ring, and the dogs who'd been there a while had that same expression. Wary, their heads twitching at every little sound--even the ones no human could hear, smelling the air for any sign of danger.

Like Steve had been at the crime scene after--fuck, after all that blood. 

Fuck. Fucking, fucking fuck.

"You're not kidding," Danny said, slowly, "are you?"

Steve shook his head.

After a moment, Danny pushed himself up off the floor and sat back down beside Steve on the bed. "Okay."

Steve's ultra-confused face looked a little odd with the white eyes in the middle of it, but it was still Steve. "Okay?"

Danny shrugged. "Okay." 

"I tell you I'm a vampire and all you have to say is 'Okay?'"

"No, dumbass, that is not all I have to say. That is where I start, though. Okay?"

Steve blinked, and the white eyes turned back into his normal, decidedly more attractive, eyes, and his face looked more normal. "Okay."

"So what's the story?" Danny asked. "How is it that you walk around fooling everyone--even the Navy and the doctors--into thinking you're human?"

"Because I am."

"You just said you're a vampire."

"I am."

"How can you be both?"

Steve picked up the box off the nightstand and handed it to Danny. "With this."

Danny frowned, opening the box to see what looked like traces of thick blood, or something. It was all he could do not to drop it. He handed it back to Steve as quickly as he could. "What is that, exactly?"

"A cure." Steve's mouth twisted up. "But only a temporary one." 

"Looks like it's almost gone."

Steve nodded. "I've been waiting as long as I possibly could to take it each time. This time I waited a little too long, and...." He waved a hand at his face.

"So, what, if you don't take that every six months or so you turn back into a vampire?"

Steve cocked his head, brow furrowing. "How'd you know it was six months?"

"Because about every six months you act like you have been the last couple of days, you disappear for a day, and then you're fine. I'm a detective, you schmuck." He smacked Steve against the back of his head. "And that's for not telling me sooner. Though it probably didn't even hurt, did it? No wonder your fucking skull is so thick."

"Will it make you feel better if I tell you it hurt?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "You're not any better at lying as a vampire than you are as a human."

"Danny...." Steve had that confused look again. "You're taking this really well."

Danny laughed. "I'm really, really not, Steven. I am so not taking this well, you have no idea. I promise you, when I have actually had time to realize this is not a bad hallucination or some form of torture where a bad guy has drugged us, that I will have a complete freak out, all right? But right now I just need to know--what happens now?"

"The cure goes into my bloodstream. I cut myself and put some in there, and I'm human."

"I hear a 'but' at the end of that sentence."

Steve sighed. "I've been trying to have someone replicate the cure. A friend back on the mainland has been helping me--"

"--and by friend you mean vampire friend?"

"Yeah."

"So this friend wants the cure, too?"

Steve laughed. "God, no, Josef would rather be burned alive than be human." His smile faded, and became softer, and Danny felt a twinge of jealousy at the fond look. "But he knows how much it means to me. So he's helping." 

"Well, good, the more the merrier." 

Steve's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't think I'm going to just walk away from this, do you?"

"Danny, you don't know what you're getting into. The people who created this cure don't want it replicated. And they're very dangerous."

Danny shrugged. "I've saved the world, Steven."

"This is not the same thing."

"Seriously, saved the world. Super virus. Gonna kill off the human race. And I did it without you."

"Danny, this is not--"

"No, Steven. It's not the same thing." Danny rose and started pacing the floor. "Let me guess, these are big, bad vampires who could, what, break my neck? Kill me? Compel me to kill other people?"

Steve got up, standing in Danny's way until Danny had to stop in front of him. "Yes, they could break your neck before you even saw them coming a mile away. And seriously, I told you to stop watching that vampire diary thing--it's ridiculously inaccurate." 

"Grace likes it. And you mean you don't have a diary stashed around here somewhere from the 1800s?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "I'm horribly disappointed." A sudden thought cheered him, "Oh, but I bet you have pictures from the seventies! Where are they?"

Steve made a lower version of that weird growl that Danny swore to himself was not even remotely hot even as his dick said otherwise. There was a burst of wind, and Steve was gone, then he was there again, only his eyes were white once more, and he had a knife against Danny's throat. 

"You see how fast that was?" Steve growled out. 

Danny was seriously going to have to have a talk with his dick about finding all this so incredibly hot. Because, come on, knife to the throat here. But Steve, with the growling and that insanely intense look on his face, even with the white eyes...Danny was having trouble remembering the problem.

The metal pressed a little harder, and Danny remembered, a moment before he realized the metal was kind of blunt. "Is that a _butter_ knife?"

Steve blinked. "You don't think I'd actually hold a knife on you that might hurt you, do you?"

"How do I know what vampires might and might not do? You just told me that show was wrong."

"Dammit, Danny, you do not get how serious this is!"

"Yes, I do, Steve." Danny wrapped his hand around Steve's wrist, lowering it from Danny's throat, but not moving away. "You're very fast. I get it."

Steve shook his head slowly. "I'm weak right now compared to all but the newest of vampires. And the ones who created this cure are the oldest, strongest vampires in existence. They could snap your neck and not even be a blip on the best camera in the world if you were standing right in front of it."

"And a sniper could kill me with a rifle from even farther away with no warning," Danny said calmly. Because he needed Steve calm, and he needed Steve not to run, which he was apparently very fast at doing. "There are a million ways for me to die, babe," Danny said quietly. "And unless you're the one who takes my life deliberately and knowingly with your own hand, none of them are your fault."

Steve swallowed carefully, his eyes closing. When he opened, they were back to normal. "Okay. You can help, on one condition. You do what I say."

"That's a pretty broad condition."

"When I tell you to run, you run. When I tell you to hide, you hide. When I tell you to stay, you stay."

"I'm not a dog."

Steve stepped even closer, and Danny had to struggle to stand his ground. Steve's legs were brushing against his, and Danny realized that Steve had apparently lost his towel in his run for the knife. "I'll know the danger's coming long before you do, and you have to at least let me try to protect you. I need to know you'll listen in that kind of situation."

"Of course. Don't I always?" At Steve's raised eyebrows, Danny said, "When you have an actual reason other than your self-sacrificing martyr complex, I listen."

"Okay." Steve let out a long breath. "Okay."

Danny nodded. "Good, now that that's settled, we need to figure out our next steps. And I think the first of those should be you putting some clothes on."

Steve's eyes widened, and Danny would swear he'd have blushed if he...well, if he could have. "Uh, yeah, good idea." Steve stepped back, turning his back to Danny as soon as he could, but not so quick that Danny didn't get a glimpse of about the only part of Steve he didn't strip off and show on a regular basis.

The glimpse did nothing to help Danny's problem with his own dick, and he willed it to just stop right now. As Steve chose that moment to bend over to get clothes out of his drawer, Danny's dick didn't listen. 

When Steve was dressed, he sat back down on the bed. Danny sat down beside him. "Okay," Danny said. "So, when I came in, you were passed out on the floor. You said you were about to take that," he nodded at the box on the nightstand, "but you hadn't yet. Why?"

"I'd been trying to wait as long as I could, but I knew I couldn't wait any longer. So I was trying to decide if I might have better luck getting more cure if I stayed a vampire. And then I passed out."

"Why did you pass out?"

Steve licked his lips, and wouldn't quite meet Danny's eyes. "Hunger."

"See? You should've eaten earlier." 

"No, not that kind of hunger." 

Steve met Danny's eyes at last, and Danny realized what he was talking about. And that Danny was the closest food truck on the island. And that look in Steve's eyes wasn't just his usual look that Danny had yet to figure out if he was undressing him in his head or what. "Oh." 

"Yeah."

Danny clamped down on the sudden urge to offer up a vein. "So, uh, how do you, I mean...where did you...eat last time?"

Steve shook his head. "I haven't fed in years. I've been human, remember?"

"How long have you been human?"

"Twenty years." Steve glanced down. "It's a long story."

"I've got time."

Rubbing at his neck, Steve shifted back on the bed a little more. "You might, but I don't."

"You have somewhere you need to be?"

"No." He met Danny's eyes once more. "I'm hungry, remember?"

Oh. Right. Danny had been trying to forget that, because he was trying to forget all the images it put into his head, and how it made him want to shove Steve back on the bed and practically impale his neck on Steve's teeth. 

He was never, ever letting Grace watch that stupid vampire show again, because clearly it was warping his brain. Who knew what it would do to hers long term, especially now that he knew there were actual vampires out there.

Holy fuck.

Steve was a vampire. 

Holy. What. The. Fuck.

"You're a vampire."

Steve ducked his head a little, getting closer. "We covered that."

"You're an actual, living, breathing vampire."

"Well, not so much on the living part, but--hey, Danny, you okay?"

Danny put his head in his hands, but that didn't stop the dizziness. He felt Steve pressing on his neck, pushing his head down between his knees, and after a moment, the dizziness passed. 

"Danny?"

"I'm okay. I just..." He sat up, finding Steve's face, studying every aspect of it. Apart from the lack of his usual tan, it was the same stupid face he'd been trying to get the courage to kiss for a while. "You're a vampire."

Steve nodded slowly, and that kicked puppy look was back again, like Steve was ready to bolt at the first sign that Danny wasn't okay with it. And that look was wrong on that face. He hated it every time it showed up, hated that anything put it there. 

He reached up to touch Steve's face, watching as little muscles just below the skin twitched in different places as Danny ran his hand down the side of Steve's cheek. Steve still looked like was afraid Danny was going to slap him. "Show me," Danny said quietly. 

"You saw."

"No. Show me." 

For a moment he thought Steve was going to refuse. But then he got that resolved look, and in a second, his face changed. Danny looked closely and realized his eyes weren't white. They were more of a light ice blue. They also looked like he hadn't slept in a week, from the red skin around them. He wondered if that stayed like that, or if it would fill in if Steve fed. 

He wondered if Steve would let him find out.

He ran his thumb across Steve's lips. They looked chapped, and were a little rough under his thumb, making him wonder what they'd feel like on his. 

Danny leaned in, his hand sliding to Steve's neck, intent on finding out, but a strong hand on his chest stopped him. "Danny, don't."

He paused, studying Steve's face and making a determination. "You want it, too."

"That's not why I'm stopping you."

"Then why?"

"I'm hungry."

Right. That was a bad thing. He wasn't supposed to want Steve to.... "You know what?" Danny said. "I don't care."

He tried to lean in again, but apparently that thing about vampires having superhuman strength was true. "I do."

And he was right to care, Danny knew. It just didn't stop Danny from wanting. But he sat back, taking a deep breath. "You were trying to decide if you wanted to stay a vampire to help your search for the cure, right?" At Steve's nod, Danny said, "So what was your decision?"

"I hadn't made one before I passed out."

"How will it help?"

Steve made that impatient noise that Danny was far too familiar with. "There's a small group of islanders who live in the forests. They move around a lot. Rumor has it they know about supernatural beings and might actually have something that can actually bind the cure."

"What?"

"Every time we tried to replicate the cure, it wouldn't work. For some reasons the ingredients wouldn't bind together right, no matter how great the scientists were, no matter how cutting edge their research or abilities. So finally we realized that maybe we didn't need the latest scientific ability. Maybe we needed something old."

"And this group has it?"

Steve shrugged. "Maybe. The rumors said something about a plant--holei. Very rare--thought to be extinct. But these people may know where to find it. And supposedly they respect spirits. They revere demons. And I'm about as demonic as they come."

"Don't say that."

"You don't know me."

"I do," Danny insisted. "I know you. Whatever you may have done a hundred years ago, that's not important."

Steve licked his lips. "I'm not a hundred years old yet," he said. 

"Oh, so you're a baby vampire, then," Danny teased. "How old are you?"

"Ninety...ish."

"Cradle-robber."

Steve finally laughed, but it didn't do much for the tension in the rest of his body. "You're really okay with this?"

"Yeah." Whether he was crazy or in shock, Danny wasn't sure, but he couldn't be anything other than okay with Steve in any form. "I know you, remember? Your physiological make up doesn't change who you are."

Some of the tension seeped out of Steve's shoulders. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. So, these islanders. You think if you go to them as a vampire, you might stand a better chance of getting what you need?"

"Yeah, it's just...I don't want to be this. Even for a day."

"But if being this for a day means you never have to be it again...."

Steve's eyes closed. "You're right," he said, hanging his head.

"It's just a day, Steven."

"I know, it's just...." He glanced up at Danny through his lashes. "If I'm going to be this for a day, I have to feed. And soon."

Danny licked his lips, not missing the way Steve's eyes snapped to Danny's mouth. Just like he didn't miss the way Steve's eyes drifted back to Danny's neck. "You have to feed, Steve, you said it yourself." 

"I can't." 

His protest sounded weaker, though, and he couldn't take his eyes off Danny's neck. "Hey," Danny said, putting his hand on Steve's cheek again, forcing Steve to look him in the eye. "It's no different than anything else we'd do for each other. We're partners, remember?"

"Danny...." 

"What, is there some sort of forbidden rule about this?" Danny blinked. "Wait, it's not going to turn me into one, is it?"

Steve shook his head. "No." 

"Then what's the problem, babe? Because from where I stand it's either me, or I go get Mrs. Kapule's cat next door, and I'm pretty sure she could take down a vampire if it hurt that cat."

Steve managed a smile at that. "The last time I fed off someone I...cared about, it didn't end well."

"What, did they leave?" 

He shook his head again. "Not willingly."

"What happened?"

"She died." 

Danny thought about that for second. "Did you kill her?"

"No. It was...she was helping me try to get a cure, and...they killed her."

"The vampires you were talking about who didn't want anyone to have this cure?" At Steve's nod, Danny said, "So we know what they're capable of, then. We'll be careful."

"Danny--"

"Steven. You're going after this cure. And you're going to have to feed to get it." Danny put his other hand on Steve's other cheek, framing his face. "I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere."

Steve stared at him for a long moment. Danny wondered if they sat there long enough if Steve's instincts would take over. If he'd have no choice. "How much longer can you last?" 

"Not long," Steve said. 

"Then either you do it now, while we're both in control, or we sit here until you're not in control, right?" Steve didn't deny it. "So what's it gonna be?"

Steve closed his eyes, and Danny could see the second he made up his mind. Steve took off his watch and handed it to Danny. "Twenty seconds," Steve said. "If I don't stop in twenty seconds, you make me."

"Okay."

"Danny." Steve gave him a long look. "I'm serious. No more, all right?"

"Okay. Twenty seconds, got it." Danny set the timer on the watch. "So, uh...how do you, um...." 

He couldn't figure out how to ask, so he tilted his head, pushing the collar of his shirt aside to bare his neck. Steve looked hungrily at it, but shook his head and took Danny's arm. "Wrist," he said. "It'll be easier for you to stop me."

Danny nodded, watching as Steve lifted his wrist to his mouth. Danny braced himself, but Steve didn't bite just yet. He ran his nose along Danny's wrist, inhaling deeply, like the smell was intoxicating. The sight of it made Danny's dick press uncomfortably against his zipper. 

Steve looked up at Danny through his lashes, his lips moving against Danny's wrist as he said, "Twenty seconds" in a low growl that went straight to Danny's dick.

Danny hit the timer button and Steve's fangs flashed a second before Danny felt them sink into his skin. The pain was sharp, but gone in an instant, replaced by something good. Really good. It made its way up Danny's arm, nerve endings tingling as it spread through his body.

It was all so good, that feeling, the way Steve looked as he sucked hungrily at Danny's wrist, he never wanted it to stop. But he wanted more. He slid closer to Steve, his arm going around Steve's back, his lips tracing their way down the side of Steve's neck. 

He'd been cold, but he was warming up a little as the blood flowed through him. Danny's blood, moving through Steve's body, keeping him alive. It was a powerful feeling, better than sex, he thought, but he wanted to try that too, just to see.

The watch timer startled him, the beeping loud in the near silence that had surrounded them. Danny pulled himself off Steve with difficulty. "Steve. Time's up."

Steve blinked at him for a second before he stopped sucking and pulled his teeth out of Danny's wrist. He licked at the wounds one more time and Danny shivered at the feeling. "Hang on," Steve said, his voice thick, as he got up and went into the bathroom. 

Danny watched him, want pulsing through him, need crackling through every nerve in his body as Steve came back to the bed, his eyes and face back to normal. He put a bandage over the wounds on Danny's wrist, running a finger over the bandage when it was done before he looked up at Danny.

The lust in his eyes was staggering, and Danny surged forward, pushing Steve onto the bed as he captured his lips in a kiss. He'd barely managed to get their lips together when he found himself on his back, Steve over him on all fours. 

For all that his face was normal once more, the look on it was still feral, pulling an answering feeling out of Danny. His hips thrust up, looking for friction, needing Steve against him, but Steve was too far above him. Danny pulled at Steve's hips, but he couldn't move him.

Steve's eyes were moving rapidly all over Danny, like he wasn't sure where to start. Then they focused on Danny's chest. It wasn't until Danny heard the sound of buttons flying and unmistakable ripping sounds that he realized his shirt was literally being torn off him. 

When the shirt was gone, Steve bent his head, slowly making a line with his tongue from Danny's collarbone, down the middle of his chest to his waistband. Steve looked up at him, nostrils flaring. "Do you have any idea how good you smell?" he asked, his voice even more of a turn on, deep and gravely, like the animal inside of him was leaking out a little through his vocal chords. "How good you taste?" 

Danny's hips pushed up, Steve's weight on his thighs keeping them from moving too much. The motion drew Steve's eyes to Danny's hips, though, and he reached for Danny's fly, making quick work of the pants without ripping them, but only just. He got rid of Danny's shoes and socks in the process. 

Steve stripped his own clothes off so fast Danny could barely see it. He was fine with that, though, because he got a good look at naked Steve, in all his glory, as he pulled something out of the nightstand drawer and tossed it on the bed beside Danny.

Then Steve was back on the bed, kneeling beside Danny, looking down at him for a moment before his hands traced their way down Danny's thigh to his knee. Steve moved one of his legs over to sit in between Danny's, then the other, pushing Danny's legs apart. 

Steve dipped his head down and took Danny's dick in his mouth, and Danny couldn't help but thrust into him. He'd woken from his fair share of dreams about this, always disappointed to realize it wasn't real, but this was real. 

Okay, so it was a little more fantasy than reality in some ways, but as long as Steve had his mouth on Danny's dick, he wasn't going to complain. 

He whimpered when Steve let him go, only to have to bite back a curse as Steve's mouth moved lower, sucking on Danny's balls. "Fucking...fuck, yeah, keep...fuck!" He didn't want to know who Steve had learned this technique on, didn't want to think about anyone else getting this, because this was amazing and Danny never wanted anyone other than him to have it again.

Steve lifted Danny up, his tongue delving further still, licking around his hole before slowly sliding inside. Danny pushed into it, dying a little every time Steve's tongue pushed in. "God...fuck...Steve...don't...just, keep, yeah, um...fuck!" 

Steve raised his head, and Danny glared at him. He couldn't gather the words to tell him to get the fuck back down there right now, but then he saw Steve reach for the stuff he'd tossed on the bed. Lube, Danny realized, as Steve put it on his fingers a second before he pushed two fingers inside Danny.

It was good, almost as good as Steve's tongue, but nowhere as good as he knew Steve's dick was going to be. Danny pushed up, impatient to get Steve inside him, and Steve gave a dark chuckle. "Danny, do you have any idea what you look like?"

Danny bit his lip, trying to read Steve's face and failing. "What?"

"Hot," Steve said, pulling his fingers out and coating his dick with lube. "Like sex come to life," he added, as he lifted Danny's legs up on to his shoulders and lined his dick up against Danny's hole. "And absolutely and completely mine," Steve said as he thrust inside.

"Fuck!" Danny pushed hard, wanting Steve as deep as he could get, wanting to feel him everywhere, inside and out. He knew Steve could feel Danny coursing through his veins--literally--and he wanted as close to that as he could get. 

Steve set a relentless pace, but Danny matched him stroke for stroke. Steve's hand gripped Danny's dick, moving in time with their bodies, harder and faster, until Danny came, seeing stars as his eyes scrunched shut. It was like Steve feeding off him all over again, but better, the link between them connected, going both ways now that he knew what Steve felt like inside of him. 

Steve thrust hard a few more times, then stilled. Danny opened his eyes just in time to see Steve in the throes of his orgasm, looking as beautiful as if he'd been sculpted out of marble. He committed the image to memory, in case he never got the chance again.

After a shuddering breath, Steve collapsed onto Danny, a solid, heavy weight. He lay there for a minute before sliding off to the side, one arm and leg still draped over Danny's body, his mouth close to Danny's ear. 

"Did I hurt you?" 

Steve's voice was barely a whisper. Danny shook his head, turning onto his side to face Steve without dislodging his arm and leg. "I told you you couldn't hurt me," Danny said. "That was so far from hurting me I can't even remember what pain feels like."

Steve studied Danny's face for a long moment. "Why isn't this freaking you out?"

"Who said it wasn't?"

And really, his confused as hell face was still adorable, even now. "You seem to be taking it pretty well."

"What choice do I have?" Danny slid a leg between Steve's, inching himself even closer. "I've always been adaptable."

"Right. Because the way you bitch about every little change screams flexible."

Danny smacked him on the shoulder. "Bitching is how I adapt," he said. He ducked his head in a little more, lips close to Steve's. "And if you're nice to me, I might even show you how flexible I really am."

He took a second to appreciate what the thought of that did to Steve's face before he closed the last of the distance between them, capturing Steve's mouth. He wasn't lying; there was a part of his brain that was still completely freaking out over everything that had happened this afternoon. It was the same part that freaked out over things like chasing down a terrorist bomber or human-race ending viruses. It was the part he couldn't let keep him from doing what needed to be done.

Navy SEALs didn't have a monopoly on compartmentalization.

And, vampire or not, this was Steve. The guy could have a gun to Danny's head and he wouldn't be able to find it in himself to be scared. Because he knew that Steve would turn the gun on himself rather than shoot Danny. He'd bet his life--literally--that vampire Steve wasn't any different.

Though, was he actually vampire "Steve"?

"Hey," Danny said, pulling back just enough to see Steve's face again. "What's your name?"

One of Steve's eyebrows quirked up. "You always sleep with people before asking them their name?"

"Once, in college," Danny said, trying to hide his amusement at the dark, jealous look that flickered across Steve's face at that, "and that's not the point here."

"Right. Sorry." Steve sighed, settling into Danny's arms a little more. "My name is Steve McGarrett now," he said. "Legally. Dad--John McGarrett--was my son."

"Wait, what?" Well hell, no wonder he'd had that much grief over John McGarrett's death. He hadn't lost a father, but he had lost a son. "Man...I'm sorry, babe."

Steve shrugged, but Danny didn't miss the way he swallowed hard, or the pain on his face. "Being a vampire...you come to accept that everyone around you will grow old and die."

Even if Danny hadn't known better, Steve's tone was easy to read. "Yeah, because you're all about accepting the inevitable," Danny teased. "So, McGarrett was your name?"

Steve shook his head. "My wife's maiden name." He swallowed, and Danny marveled that memories from so long ago could still be so painful. But then, that was Steve. "She was pregnant when I enlisted in the Navy after Pearl Harbor," he said quietly, his eyes on Danny, but his mind clearly elsewhere, seeing something Danny couldn't. "She died giving birth, and John stayed with her parents while I fought in the war."

"Where were your parents?" Danny asked.

"They died when I was a teenager." 

"I'm sorry."

One of Steve's shoulders lifted in a half-shrug. "It was a long time ago."

And it was, before Danny was even born, but he could see that Steve still carried it with him, the way he carried all his loss and what he saw as failures. Danny had never met anyone who carried all that around and still used it to do good the way Steve did. It was hard to watch, but it made Danny want to do more. Be more. "So what happened after the war?"

"John had been raised by her parents for a few years," Steve said. "It didn't make any sense to uproot him. So they adopted him. I mean, he knew I was his father, and I saw him occasionally until...well, once I was turned, he was a pawn that could be used against me."

"You were searching for the cure even then?"

Steve shook his head. "No, but my...my wife at the time would've used him. So I did my best to make sure she didn't know he existed." Steve sighed. "Unfortunately, she found some letters from him when he was twelve."

And from the way Steve said it, it didn't sound like that turned out well. "I'm guessing she wasn't too happy about that."

"Oh, no, she was ecstatic. She thought a child was just what we needed to be happy." Steve's mouth twisted up. "Vampires can't have kids. Which is for the best. But Coraline wanted to be a happy family. So she lured John out to California with letters saying she was me, and surprised me one night."

Steve swallowed against the pain that Danny could feel in the tension in every inch of Steve's body. "She was going to turn him, so he could be our kid forever." 

Danny tried to imagine being twelve for eternity. Growing, learning, but never getting any older, having people treat you like a kid for centuries. "That's sick."

"Yeah, well, that was par for the course for Coraline." Steve shuddered a little, and Danny wondered what memory had caused it. "She had reasons for turning out the way she did. Not that it makes anything she did okay, but...we all have our crosses to bear." He focused on Danny's eyes again. "And the longer we bear them, the heavier they get."

"So...what happened? Obviously she didn't turn John." 

Steve shook his head. "No. I stopped her."

He sounded so resolute, so determined about being okay with whatever he'd done that Danny hated to ask. But. "How?"

"I staked her, set the house on fire, took John and ran."

"You staked her and burned the place down? Isn't that overkill?"

"A stake doesn't kill us--though you can see why we'd be okay with that legend, since people generally think they're done if they stake us. It just paralyzes us. But fire. That will kill us."

It sounded so strange to hear Steve referring to himself as part of the vampire community, even after all Danny had seen and experienced. "Good to know," Danny said. "What else will hurt or kill you?"

"Why, planning to make your escape?"

He tried to play it off as a joke, but Danny could hear the fear behind it. Steve was still convinced Danny wouldn't stay once he realized all this was real. The lack of trust would've hurt, if Danny didn't have an idea of the almost 100 years of reasons Steve had to expect it. "No, you schmuck," Danny said, smacking Steve again. "But if I'm going into the forest with you, I need to know what to look out for."

"You're not going."

"You think I'm going to let you go alone? You're crazier than I thought."

"If something happens, I can move faster without you."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "And you can't move just as fast if you're carrying me if something happens?"

He could see Steve was looking for another reason to stop Danny from going with him. "We don't know what kinds of abilities these people have," Steve said.

"Exactly. They know so much about demons and spirits, they might know a dozen ways to incapacitate you that you can't combat. You need backup." 

Steve's jaw was set. "I don't need backup."

"You do." Danny was not prepared to back down on this one. "And I will listen to you when we're there, I swear. You say run, I run, etc. But if you go in there alone, I will go in there on my own to look for you. Do you want me out there alone at night?"

The guilt that flashed across Steve's face told him he'd been right--Steve had been thinking of sneaking out and going alone. "All right," he said finally. "I'll take you with me."

"Thank you," Danny said. "And while you're being so agreeable, maybe you could answer the question I asked like half a year ago?"

"Which one?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "What was your name?"

"Oh. Mick," he said. "Mick St. John."

Danny considered the name for a moment. "It doesn't really suit you."

That got a smile out of Steve. "I've grown very fond of Steve McGarrett," he said. The smile faded. "I took it from Celia's brother. He was the Steve McGarrett who went down on the Arizona."

"Celia?"

"My first wife. John's mother."

"What was she like?"

Steve shook his head, pulling Danny against him with one leg. "I'll tell you all about her sometime," he said. "But right now, we have about 2 hours until sundown. And as we need a little time to plan, what do you say to a little...relaxation before we get to work?"

Danny smiled, his hand moving up Steve's back to the back of his neck. "I think that's an excellent idea."

***


	2. Chapter 2

By the time the sun was thinking about sinking into the ocean, Danny had helped Steve load up two back packs with all the supplies Steve seemed to think necessary for an overnight hike into a dense forest. Steve had pulled an old box labeled "PARTS" out of the garage, one that contained a rather scary amount of equipment that could, apparently, be used to fight vampires.

"You don't think we'll run into any vampires, do you?"

"You mean other than me?" 

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yes, other than you."

"I hope not. I don't have any reason to think we will--to the best of my knowledge, there aren't any others on Oahu."

"Yeah, I'm betting any being that bursts into flame from the sun isn't going to want to spend a lot of time here."

"The sun doesn't actually set us on fire," Steve said, as he started sifting through the equipment and adding a few pieces to each of their bags. "It's not good. Too much exposure is more like frostbite or hypothermia to us, and it will eventually kill us. But I won't burst into flames if I step outside."

Another myth busted. "These vampire shows are so disappointing."

Steve laughed. "I did warn you."

"Yes," Danny agreed, "but to be fair, at the time you warned me, I did not know you had firsthand knowledge of the facts."

It took Danny a couple of seconds to figure out that face Steve made. "Hey," Danny said, putting a hand on Steve's arm. "That's not a bad thing."

"You don't know what I've done."

"You think it's any worse than the things I can imagine you've had to do as a human soldier?"

"I'm not a soldier, I'm a--"

"SEAL, yes, I know, and despite what you think, I have some idea what that means, okay? My point is, I know you. I know what you're capable of. And I know how you choose to use it. I'm betting vampire you was no different." 

Steve huffed. "Considering I never wanted to be a vampire in the first place...."

"Really? I never would've guessed." Danny gave Steve's arm a squeeze. "Come on, what else do we need to take out into the jungle?"

"Forest."

"Whatever. What do we need?"

Steve surveyed the equipment again. "I think we're set." 

"Good." Danny nodded at the windows. "That level of sun going to give you frostbite or whatever if we leave now?"

"Not in the car, no." Steve studied the horizon for a minute. "It should be dark enough by the time we get to where we'll have to leave the car that I'll be fine."

"Good. Then grab your gear and let's go."

***

They were winding their way slowly through rush hour traffic when Danny said, "So, fire will kill you, but a stake won't. What else?"

Steve glanced at him before focusing on the road again. "Silver." His hands tightened on the wheel. "Silver is bad." 

"I thought that was werewolves."

"Seriously, Danny, you have to stop believing that show."

"Pardon me, but up until this afternoon I didn't believe any of this."

Steve let out a long breath, his lips pressing tightly together. Danny knew that look. It was the one that Steve got when he was trying to be very careful with what he was going to say. "You shouldn't have to," he said, finally.

Yeah, just as usual, he failed at being careful. "I shouldn't have had to find out by accident," Danny said. "You should've told me."

"Oh, and you'd have believed me if I'd said, 'Hey, by the way, I'm a vampire. No, I can't turn because I'm human right now, you'll just have to take my word for it!' right? You'd have totally bought that."

Danny drummed his fingers on the arm rest. "Okay, fine. But when you were making this decision, you could have clued me in before I came over and found you dead on the floor."

Steve bit his lip. "I'm sorry," he said, just when Danny had decided he wasn't getting a response. "You're right. I should've called you when I decided to wait. I just...." He threw Danny another quick glance. "I hate this side of me. Why would I want to show it to somebody I care about?"

"Because it's part of you," Danny said, staring at Steve's profile, at the stony face etched in the passing street lamps. "We all have an ugly side, Steven. Parts of ourselves that we don't want anyone to see, for fear they'll run screaming as far as they can." Danny held his hands up. "Look at me. Do I look like I'm running?"

"No." Steve shot him another glance. "Not yet."

Danny didn't have anything he could say to that. "So what else is bad for you, then?" he asked, steering the conversation to safer ground. "Crosses?"

"Nope. Not crosses, not holy water. Pretty much fire and silver. Or having our heads chopped off."

"There's some imagery I sadly have experience enough to imagine," Danny muttered, trying to get the picture of headless Steve out of his mind. 

Steve shot him another one of those glances, like he was expecting Danny to disappear at any second. "Just remember, while those are the only things that will kill me, a lot more things will kill you."

"Yes, I know. Believe me, I don't think having sex with a vampire has suddenly turned me into a superhuman or something." Which was another thing he wasn't thinking about just yet, that they'd had sex. He'd had sex with Steve. Who was a vampire. 

He'd known coming to Hawaii had turned his life upside down, but this was a new level of upside down. This was so upside down it was almost right side up again. 

He couldn't think about that now. "Speaking of which," Danny said, "how exactly do you turn someone into a vampire anyway?"

"It's a process."

Danny rolled his eyes. "No shit, really? Here I thought magic fairies sprinkled you with vampire dust."

Steve growled, and Danny couldn't stop the little jolt in his dick at it. "You're not funny."

"I'm hilarious. And I wouldn't need to be making jokes if you'd just answer a question."

After a long-suffering sigh, Steve said, "The sire drains a person to the point of death, then feeds the person its blood."

"Sire? What, like a parent?"

"Sires and their turned vampires have all sorts of different relationships. It's complicated." 

Danny thought about that for a moment. "So who was your sire?"

Steve's knuckles went white as he gripped the steering wheel, and his jaw was doing a great impression of a vise grip. "Tell you what," he said finally, barely getting the words out through his clenched jaw, "if we make it home, I'll tell you about it. Okay?"

Clearly he didn't want to talk about it right now. And Danny had gotten quite a few answers already. "Okay."

He'd make sure they both make it home to find that out.

***

The moon was bright when they stepped into the forest, but a hundred yards in, Danny could barely see anything. "Let me guess," Danny said, following closely behind Steve, "you can see in the dark."

"Yeah, it's actually a perk of--oh, right." Steve stopped, and Danny heard rustling, a moment before something was thrust into his hands. "Put these on."

Danny felt them and realized they were goggles. Night vision goggles, he realized when he put them on. "Is this how you see things in the dark?" Danny asked.

"Sort of."

"Sort of?"

Steve shrugged. "Close enough."

"I love it when you share," Danny said, discovering that rolling his eyes wasn't particularly comfortable when wearing night vision goggles.

He heard Steve's sigh, but there was no further response. They walked in silence for a few minutes, Steve stopping every so often to cock his head and listen. After about the fifth time, Danny asked, "So, I suppose you have super hearing, too?"

"Yup."

"How good?"

"What?"

"Your hearing," Danny said. "How good is it?"

Steve pushed past a few low branches before he replied. "Let's just say that you don't have to worry about coming within a hundred yards of a snake."

"Wow." Danny thought about that for a second. "You sure you don't want to stay this way for a while? That could be really handy when Grace hits her teens and starts having private conversations in her room."

Steve stopped long enough to turn and give Danny a look. He couldn't tell exactly what the look was, but he realized he didn't really need to see it to know what it was. "I'm just saying, she's going to be very--"

"Shh!" 

Steve focused on something off to their right--to the east, Danny thought, but he wasn't quite sure. Maybe it was north. He wasn't about to ask, not with the way Steve was doing the whole German Shepherd thing again, tilting his head every which way. 

When he finally stopped with the animal behavior, he looked at Danny again. "That way," Steve said, pointing to their right. 

"Are they close enough to hear?"

"No, but I smelled something on the wind, and it's blowing from the west," he said, pointing to the right again. "There are certain ingredients used in ceremonies, and the people we're looking for would likely use them. And I smelled them."

"You can smell individual ingredients in all these trees and weeds?"

"I can when they're burning." He touched Danny's arm, nodding towards the west. "Come on."

They walked for what seemed like ages, the dark and the weirdness of the goggles made it feel impossible to tell time. Danny had a lot more questions, but he didn't want to break the silence, not when Steve kept doing that German Shepherd thing. 

Finally Steve stopped, his hand on Danny's arm, holding him back. "We're close," he whispered.

Danny kept his voice as low as he possibly could, knowing Steve would hear it just fine. "How can you tell?"

"I can hear them," Steve said, nodding in front of them. "A couple hundred yards that way. Definitely sounds like some sort of ceremony, but I don't know what. My Hawaiian is sketchy."

"Finally, something you aren't perfect at," Danny muttered.

He saw Steve's smile flash, the fangs not as bizarre as they had been only hours earlier. "My Hawaiian is still a lot better than yours."

"Shut up and go get this plant you need," Danny whispered, giving him a shove.

He heard Steve's chuckle, but Steve didn't say anything else, he just pushed on towards their destination until even Danny could hear the voices and needed to take off his goggles because of the flickering firelight. Steve stopped, keeping Danny behind him as they were just close enough Danny could make out people through the small breaks in the trees. "I think you should stay here," Steve whispered, his mouth close to Danny's ear.

"What? Why?"

"Because if anything happens, I can get out. I have speed and strength. If it's just me, I can use them. If they have you...."

Fuck. Danny didn't like it. But he couldn't argue with logic. "I'll stay just out of sight," Danny said. "Just be careful."

"When have I ever been anything else?"

"You want a list?" 

Steve's smile was just visible in the firelight through the trees before he crept off towards the people. Danny followed just to the edge of the trees, then watched as Steve broke through. 

Danny crept closer to get a better look, staying out of sight. Eight men and five women were gathered around a fire. One of the women wore ornately painted kukui nuts around her neck. She seemed to be in charge, some kind of priestess, Danny thought, judging by the way she was chanting while the others looked on. 

When Steve stepped into the light, none of them looked surprised. The priestess turned and smiled at him before saying something in Hawaiian. 

Steve moved around their circle until Danny could see his profile. "You couldn't have been expecting me," Steve said. "You didn't know I was coming."

"We did," she said in halting, accented English. "You were foretold."

"Foretold?"

She waved a hand at the fire, then held up a hand, palm facing Steve. Danny couldn't see what was on it, but it apparently meant something to Steve. "A prophecy?" The woman nodded. "What did it say?"

Whatever she said in Hawaiian made Steve frown. "Yours? Uh...I think there's been a mistake. I'm just here for a plant."

She came forward, lifting one of the painted necklaces, one that shone silver, even in the amber firelight, off her own neck and placing it on Steve's.

It clearly wasn't a plant, and judging by the way Steve staggered as the beads landed, it wasn't anything good, either. He started to look nauseous and a little grey, and Danny went over the things Steve had said could hurt him. Fire, sunlight, stakes, silver--shit! Silver--the beads must have been painted with actual silver. 

The priestess was chanting in Hawaiian again, dancing over to the fire. A younger woman by the fireside handed her a knife, and she held it up in the sky, still chanting. Danny decided he really didn't want to know what she was going to do with it, and if he waited any longer, he might find out.

He took a deep breath and stepped into the clearing. "Stop!" 

The priestess quit her chanting and turned to look at Danny curiously, not at all like she thought he was a threat. She said something in Hawaiian, and Danny shook his head. "I don't speak your language."

She repeated the phrase, or something similar, this time to Steve. "He's...nobody," Steve said, sounding like he'd run a hundred miles. 

Danny raised an eyebrow over his shoulder at Steve, who was on his knees, looking like he was about to face plant any second. Danny focused on the priestess again, who wasn't holding the knife out, thankfully, or making any move towards them. She looked between the two of them a few times, a frown growing on her face. 

The hell with this. Steve was looking sicker by the second, and Danny didn't know how long it took for silver to do permanent damage. Danny took a few steps towards him, but the woman yelled something, and he stopped. 

She moved towards him slowly, circling him, but making no move to lift the knife. After a few seconds he realized she was inhaling deeply as she leaned into him, and he tried not to be creeped out by it. After all, Steve had done much the same....

Because he was a vampire.

But she couldn't be a vampire. She could handle the silver. Unless there were different species of vampires. Or some were immune. He had no idea, and he hated going into a situation with this little knowledge, but one thing was certain--if she was a vampire, he didn't want her feeding off him. 

Her frown had deepened as she stepped back. She glanced over at Steve, then back at Danny, before moving to Steve. She leaned over him, inhaling, her nose near his neck. He wondered if vampires could feed off other vampires--maybe she was some kind of vampire cannibal.

She straightened, looking at Danny, then at Steve, before addressing Steve in Hawaiian.

After a few seconds, Steve nodded, replying in halting Hawaiian, his voice hoarse. Steve clearly expected her to respond, but when she didn't, he said something else. 

She looked between them again for a moment before nodding. Danny let out a breath as she took the necklace off of Steve, who didn't exactly improve, but he didn't pass out, so Danny supposed that was progress. 

The woman moved away, so Danny ran over to Steve. "You okay?" Danny asked softly, dividing his attention between keeping an eye on Steve and making sure the woman wasn't coming back to kill them. 

"Will be," Steve said, sounding like he'd run a marathon in five minutes. 

The woman came back, holding out a cloth sack. She put it down in front of Steve and made a sort of bow as she backed away. Steve opened the sack and looked in, then looked up at her. "Holei?" When she nodded, he said, "Mahalo." 

She said something else in Hawaiian, and Steve thanked her again, before trying to get to his feet. Danny reached down to help him up, seeing a hint of a smile on Steve's mouth as he said, quietly, "Let's get out of here."

***

Danny stopped long enough to put on his night vision goggles before leading Steve back the way they came. At least he hoped it was--he wasn't sure--but he wasn't stopping to ask until he put enough distance between them and the crazy people back at the fire that they couldn't change their mind and give chase.

That Steve let himself be led along quietly was a bad sign, but not as bad as when Steve tugged on Danny's arm and said he needed to stop. 

"What's wrong?"

"Silver," Steve said. "I'll recover, just...takes time." 

He'd stopped them by a tree that had fallen, the trunk large enough for them to sit on. Danny took off his night vision goggles and pulled out a small light. He turned it on and used it to inspect Steve as he slumped over, elbows on his knees. Steve looked about the same as he had by the fire, but no worse, at least. 

Danny wasn't even sure where to start with his questions. "So what happened back there?" he asked finally.

Steve looked up through his lashes. "You know that part in the wedding where the minister says 'does anyone object?'"

"Yeah."

"You objected."

Danny ran the words back through his mind, wondering if the silver had messed up Steve's vocabulary. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You interrupted my wedding, Danno."

If the silver had messed him up, at least he was consistent. "So that ceremony she was performing," Danny said slowly, "that was a wedding?"

"More or less, yeah."

"So what, she marries you, kills you, and collects some sort of demon life insurance policy?"

Steve's chuckle even sounded tired, but at least it came with a smile. "I told you they revered demons. She was the leader of their tribe. Or cult. Or whatever. She was to have the honor of marrying a demon."

"Then why the silver?"

"From what I could tell, she was supposed to weaken me to a point near death, then revive me with her blood, and that was supposed to bind us together." 

Danny started. "Drinking a human's blood binds you together?"

"Yes, Danny," Steve deadpanned. "Did I forget to mention we were married?"

It took Danny a second to see the humor in Steve's eyes. "You're an ass."

"Oh, is the honeymoon over already?"

"Are you going to say anything useful?" Danny asked. "Or do I just have to start making shit up?"

Steve laughed a little before he said, "No, drinking a human's blood doesn't bind you together. But it does have certain...effects." 

"Like what?"

"Don't you feel it?"

Danny thought about it. He had been hyperaware of Steve since that afternoon, but given that he'd found out Steve was a vampire, and they'd slept together, he wouldn't say that was all that unusual. And he was drawn to Steve on their worst days. 

But there was something more like a tangible connection between them now that he'd put down to having finally had sex. But maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was more. "Yeah," Danny said finally. "Is it the same for you?"

Steve shrugged, looking down at the ground. "Your blood is the only thing in my veins," Steve said. "The only reason I'm alive." He met Danny's eyes. "I don't think you can feel more tied to someone than that."

Shit. He hadn't thought of it like that, and the weight of it sat awkwardly on his shoulders for a moment. He wasn't sure he was ready for that kind of pressure. But this was Steve--they'd lost count ages ago of how many times they saved each other's lives. This was just one more way of doing that.

He could see in Steve's eyes it was a little more, but he couldn't think about it just yet. They needed to get out of the forest and back to the car before morning. "You ready?" Danny asked.

"Yeah." Steve pushed on his knees to get to his feet but fell back down again.

"How long does it take for the silver effects to stop?"

"It's been a while, I'm not sure," Steve said. "But she may also have done something to the silver to make it work faster. I don't know."

Danny checked his watch. They had maybe three hours before dawn started to break. And it had taken nearly that to get this far into the forest with Steve at full strength. He remembered what Steve had said about the woman meaning to revive Steve with her blood. "Would feeding make you recover faster?"

Steve's head snapped up. "Danny, no."

He could tell that wasn't the answer to his question, more a command. "We don't have time for you to be self-sacrificing about this, Steven. The sun's going to break in about three hours, and if the silver already has you like this, I'm betting it won't take the sun long to finish you off."

Steve's lips thinned, but after a long moment he gave Danny a sharp nod. "Okay."

"Look at that, you can be logical. I think I like vampire you."

"I can also snap your neck before you can get out another word."

"Yeah, but you won't, so that threat really doesn't work."

He wasn't sure what he'd said that made Steve smile like that, because if he knew what it was, he'd say it a lot more. "Okay," Steve said, sounding resigned. "Let's get this over with."

Spoken like he wasn't going to enjoy it, but Danny hadn't forgotten the first time yet. He pulled the bandage off his wrist and tucked it into a side pocket on his backpack before turning to Steve again. 

Steve was holding out his watch. "Only ten seconds this time. It's all I need to get out of here." 

He watched as Danny set the timer. "Ready?" Danny asked. At Steve's nod, Danny started the timer.

The feeling was just as good the second time around. Maybe even better--Danny knew what to expect, and there was no fear, only the knowledge of how good it would be. Added to that was the knowledge of what Steve had said before, how Danny's blood was the only thing in his veins. He'd always thought sex was intimate, but this...this was off the scale. 

The timer beeped, and Danny unwrapped himself from Steve with difficulty. "Time's up," he murmured in Steve's ear.

Steve pulled off Danny's wrist, reaching in his own bag to find a clean bandage. He took Danny's hand in his and lifted it, inspecting it for a second before wrapping the clean bandage around it. He held it a moment longer when he was done, meeting Danny's eyes. "Thank you." 

"Don't mention it." 

Steve got that lopsided grin that Danny no longer wanted to resist kissing off his face. So he kissed him, the tang of his own blood on Steve's tongue a whole new turn on that he didn't really want to think about too closely. 

"Come on," Danny said, pulling back. "Let's get you under cover before the sun comes out, Ice Princess."

Steve's laugh was stronger, which made Danny feel stronger, too, as he turned the light off and stowed it, put on his goggles, and made his way out of the forest behind Steve.

***

They reached the car before dawn, for which Danny was grateful. He really wasn't interested in seeing what would happen if Steve met the sun. Danny insisted on driving, largely because Steve looked really tired, and Danny wasn't sure if daybreak would knock him out or something. 

But the sun wasn't fully out, and Steve was wide awake, when they reached Steve's house. They were almost to the door when Steve grabbed Danny's arm, stopping him. 

"Wh--"

Steve's hand clamped over Danny's mouth. Danny watched Steve carefully, still fascinated by that whole animal thing, as he tilted his head, listening and smelling the air. A long moment later Steve relaxed, letting go of Danny's arm, a faint smile replacing the frown on Steve's face.

"Come on," Steve said, leading Danny into the house. 

Danny quickly saw what Steve had apparently picked up on from outside--a guy sitting on the couch. He looked to be about 25, but from the way Steve had apparently recognized him without even seeing him, Danny guessed that he was no more 25 than he was human. 

"Josef," Steve said, reaching the couch just as Josef stood up. Danny frowned as they hugged before Steve turned to introduce him. "Danny, this is Josef Kostan. Josef, this is my partner, Danny Williams."

"Partner?" Josef raised an eyebrow at Steve, who would've blushed, if he could've. "That's...new."

Any second, Steve was going to start pulling his collar away from his neck. "I might've mentioned I'm a cop? Danny works with me." 

"Right. I can smell how that's all it is."

Danny wondered that Josef didn't seem at all surprised by the idea Steve might be sleeping with another man. Unless of course he had firsthand knowledge that Steve leaned that way.... "Nice to meet you," Danny said, pretty sure he didn't sound as though he meant it.

Josef just laughed, though. "You do have a type," he said to Steve. "More or less." 

Nice. Because everybody loved being talked about like a favorite pet. "Type?" Danny asked, giving Steve a look.

Before Steve could answer, Josef said, "Blond hair, blue eyes, nosy and very mouthy."

He could see Steve holding back laughter. "You know," Danny said to Steve, "I feel the need to reiterate that you need to do a better job picking your friends."

Which made Josef and Steve both laugh for some reason. Steve put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "It was a compliment, Danny. I promise."

"Right. It sounded like one."

Josef gave him what looked like it might actually be a halfway sincere smile. "Let's just say I like mouthy. And I was very fond of the person I just compared you to. My apologies if you thought otherwise."

From Steve's surprised look, Danny gathered that Josef didn't always go out of his way to be so polite. But he didn't question it out loud, saying only, "Josef's been helping me with the cure." 

Danny felt himself thaw a little at hearing that. "But you don't want it yourself?"

"You spend several hundred years watching humans rot into dust, you wouldn’t be so fond of the idea of becoming one again, either," Josef said. "But Mick here never did seem to figure that out."

It was odd hearing someone call Steve 'Mick.' "There's something to be said for humanity," Danny said. " _Steve_ certainly seems to agree."

Josef inclined his head as if Danny might have a point. Considering that, as far as Danny could see, Josef wouldn't be able to survive without humanity providing a buffet, the guy didn't really have a lot of choice. 

Josef turned to Steve. "Did you get it?"

"Yeah, though you could've warned me they were going to try to marry me off to someone."

Josef shrugged. "News to me," he said. "Clearly Danny didn't let that happen."

"My hero," Steve said, and while the tone was tinged with humor, the look Steve gave him made Danny's heart race a little faster. Something he should probably avoid with two vampires in the room, judging by the way they both looked at him like a tasty steak.

Which was quickly followed by Steve pushing a little closer to Danny, making himself a barrier between him and Josef, something Josef apparently thought was funny, judging by his smirk. "I don't take scraps off other people's tables, Mick."

" _Steve_ ," was Steve's reply. "I'm kind of well-known here. If you start calling me Mick, people are going to wonder." 

"Sorry, Steve." Josef managed to make a perfectly normal name sound foreign on his tongue. "So where's the plant?"

Steve slung the backpack off his shoulder and pulled out the sack with the plant, handing it carefully over to Josef. "There should be enough to try it, and if it works, to grow more."

"I brought the scientist with me. Let me take it to his lab and I'll give you a call when I know something." 

"Thanks, Josef," Steve said. 

Josef shrugged. "I owe you one or two." 

"Or ten."

Josef rolled his eyes, but Danny saw the genuine fondness there. "Keeping score is so classless."

"Really? Because I could tell the story about the Dutch twins and your--"

"And I really need to get this to the lab," Josef said, hurrying out the door with a wave.

Danny watched him go before turning to Steve. "So that's your friend?"

"Yes. And he's just a friend, nothing more."

Which Danny had more or less decided on his own already, but it was nice to hear the clearly honest confirmation. "So then who was the person he was talking about?"

"Hm?" Steve asked, busying himself with emptying his backpack, clearly avoiding Danny's eyes.

"Blond hair, blue eyes, nosy and...mouthy."

Steve took the backpack into the dining room and put it on the table. "Oh, he was talking about Beth."

Danny followed, wondering at Steve's reluctance to look at him, let alone talk about this other person. "Beth?"

"Yeah."

"Hey." Danny put a hand on Steve's cheek and forced him to look at Danny. "What is it you don't want to tell me?"

Steve shrugged. "I...it's in the past. It was another life--literally."

"And yet it seems to bother you. And whoever she was, Josef still thinks she was special enough to bring her up."

"Well, the two of you do share some similar characteristics," Steve said with a faint smile. "But...yeah. She was special."

"What happened?"

The smile faded, and Steve swallowed carefully. "She died."

"Oh. She was the one who died trying to help you get the cure."

Steve nodded. "It was twenty years ago, but...."

"Twenty years to you is probably like, what, five for me?"

"I just..." Steve put the bag down on the table and leaned against it, meeting Danny's eyes. "We got the cure, but in the process, that's how she got killed. The vampires who created it tried to kill us both, but I wasn't human then. They didn't kill me. Just her." 

"I'm sorry," Danny said quietly.

Steve nodded. "I took the cure. And I kept taking it. And I devoted myself to helping others, something I think she would have liked."

"And you had no life outside of that."

"No. Not until...until John died. And I came here. And found you in the garage."

Where they'd found each other, and forced each other to build new lives out of the ashes of their old ones. "Don't you think twenty years is long enough to punish yourself?"

"It's not punishment."

"Okay, to grieve? Honor her memory?" Danny took Steve's hand. "What do you think she'd want for you?"

"To keep taking the cure. To live the human life I always wanted."

"Then don't you think that's the best way to honor her memory?"

Steve thought about that for a moment. "You might have a point."

"Oh, wow, now I know there's something wrong with you if you're admitting that."

"Shut up." 

"And there's the McGarrett charm I've grown used to." Danny tugged on Steve's hand, pulling him towards the stairs. "Come on."

Steve followed, asking, "Where are we going?"

"Shower. We smell like jungle."

"Forest."

"Whatever, it's not clean." Danny looked over his shoulder. "Besides, you, me, naked...there are worse things, right?"

Steve gave him a push. "Walk faster."

***

They broke the three minute shower rule by a lot, Danny teasing Steve about it as they were drying each other off. "I'm just saying," Danny paused to dry Steve's ass with far more care than was probably necessary, "you need to admit there are benefits to staying in the shower longer than three minutes."

"Why?"

Danny stopped, giving Steve a look that he knew wasn't nearly as cool as he was going for. "Because not admitting it could lead to a sudden lack of reasons to stay in the shower longer than three minutes."

"I love long showers," Steve said instantly, giving Danny a kiss before going back out into the bedroom. Danny followed, watching as Steve picked up his phone and checked his voicemail, his movements unselfconscious, for all that he was naked. 

But then, he really didn't have anything to be self-conscious about, and not just because he looked like a Greek statue. He'd always been partly covered up around Danny until today, and not just in clothing, Danny realized. The idea of having that kind of secret, of having to be constantly on guard around everyone and never slip up, it was impossible for Danny to imagine. 

Steve dropped his phone on the night stand. "I had a message from Josef. His scientist is working on the cure. He said he'd call back with an update in a couple of hours." 

"That's good, right?" Steve nodded, but he didn't look thrilled. "So why the face?"

"I thought it would be quicker." 

"You've waited this long, now you're impatient about a couple of hours?"

Steve shrugged, pulling on a pair of jeans. "Yeah, it's not a big deal." But when he pulled on his shirt and Danny could see his face, he still looked unhappy.

"Hey," Danny said, closing the distance between them and tugging on the front of Steve's shirt. "It's a few hours."

"And then maybe a few more. And if it goes much longer then...."

Right. Even vampires needed to eat. "You'll need to feed," Danny finished for him.

He nodded, and Danny tapped him on the chin until Steve looked at him. "Then you'll feed. It's not the end of the world."

"I just...I haven't done it in decades. I forgot how much I hate it."

"I can't imagine drinking blood is all that appetizing."

Steve shook his head. "For you, no. For a vampire? It's like the best drug ever, and turning someone makes them an instant addict." 

And for someone who was as much of a control freak as Steve, that had to be a special kind of hell. "Speaking of turning someone," Danny said, thinking maybe Steve really needed to get the rest of this story out, "you said you'd tell me how you became a vampire if we made it home alive."

"I did." He didn't look happy about it, but he had that determined look that told Danny he was going to get the story. "Get dressed and let's go downstairs and I'll tell you while you eat."

***

"Food doesn't bother you?" Danny asked, when they sat down at the table.

"Not really, not unless the cure is wearing off. But as a vampire, no, other than not being able to eat it."

Danny swallowed a bite of his sandwich. "So you can't eat at all?"

"I can, it just tastes like paper and doesn't do anything to help hunger."

"Only blood?"

Steve nodded. "Only blood."

"So how did it happen?" Danny asked softly after a moment.

Steve ran a finger down the side of the beer bottle that he'd opened, but hadn't taken a drink of. "I got married."

"Like last night?"

He laughed a little. "No. I met this woman at a party. Coraline. She was...fascinating. The kind of person you just can't leave alone, you have to know everything."

Danny was familiar with Steve's inability to leave someone's life alone--he'd lived it. "But you didn't know everything?"

Steve shook his head. "On our wedding night, she turned me. I didn't even know until I woke up the next morning. She said it was her gift to me, but that was the last thing I thought it was. As far as I was concerned, I went to bed a man, I woke up a monster."

Danny put his hand on Steve's. "You're not a monster. Or a demon. Or any of those things you're calling yourself in your head, so stop it."

"Well, with any luck I won't be after tonight, at least not as long as I have the cure."

"How did you get that originally?"

Steve's mouth twisted in a wry grin. "Would you believe from Coraline?"

"Seriously?'

He nodded. "After everything she'd done--and believe me, you don't want to hear the stories--she eventually decided to take back her 'gift' by giving me the cure. After tormenting me for a while first, of course," he said, as if that was perfectly normal. 

Danny did want to hear the stories, but he could tell when Steve had bared enough for one sitting. "And here I thought I'd married a bloodsucker," he said. 

It was a bad joke, but it made Steve laugh, and the lines around his mouth loosen a little, so Danny counted it as a win.

***

Danny finished his lunch and they sat on the couch trying to watch a movie and failing miserably. Steve stared at the screen like there was going to be a test on the plot, but Danny was pretty sure if he asked, Steve wouldn't know the name of a single character. 

The phone rang, and Steve turned off the TV to answer it. "Josef." From the way Steve's lips thinned, Danny knew it wasn't great news. "Okay. Yeah, sure. See you then." He hung up and dropped the phone on the coffee table. 

"Something wrong with the plant?"

"No, Josef's guy thinks that it'll work. He just won't have it until almost midnight."

Danny checked his watch, then looked at Steve, who was looking grayer almost by the minute, it seemed. "You need to feed."

"Yeah."

He sounded about as enthused as Danny would have expected, but he also wouldn't look at Danny directly, and Danny was starting to understand. It wasn't just that Steve didn't want to feed; he was ashamed of it. Ashamed that Danny had to witness it, let alone let him feed off Danny's blood. 

"You know," Danny said, conversationally, "my cousin is bipolar. For years before she went on meds, nobody wanted to be around her because we all just thought she was about a hundred kinds of crazy. But since she's been diagnosed and is on the meds, she's like a different person. The person she was meant to be all along."

Steve stared at him quizzically. "Your point?"

"A lot of people depend on drugs to keep them human, alive, whatever. Just because yours happens to be blood, that doesn't make you any different."

Steve shrugged, still not looking at Danny. "I know, it's not that big a deal." 

"Spoken like someone who doesn't believe a word coming out of his mouth." Danny held his wrist out, shifting so it was in Steve's line of sight. "Here."

Steve pushed it away and stood. "No. Josef brought me some blood, it's in the refrigerator. I'll just--"

"Steven." Danny grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down onto the couch. "Hey," he said, "look at me."

Steve met his eyes, and Danny saw the fear there. After all this, he was still worried about reminding Danny of what he was. Who he was. Which was ridiculous, and yet so Steve that Danny wasn't even surprised. "You are, without a doubt," Danny said slowly, "one of the most amazing people I've ever met. And everything I've found out about you in the last day has only made you that much more amazing." 

He put his hand on the side of Steve's cheek. "You don't have to hide anything from me. Nothing's going to change that opinion."

"You don't know some of the things I've done, Danny. I--"

"I don't care. Don't you get that? Whatever you did when you were forced into this, however you reacted, I don't care. You are the person you are."

"I'm not a person."

"Yes, you are." Danny put his other hand on Steve's other cheek, framing his face so he couldn't look away. "Vampire or cured, you are a person. One I know and," he said, taking a deep breath, feeling like this was too soon and long overdue at the same time, "one I happen to love, so if you value my judgment and opinion, then you have no choice but to accept that."

He felt Steve swallow, his eyes bright. "Well," Steve said after a few seconds, his voice hoarse, "I know better than to argue with you when you have your mind made up about something."

Danny laughed, a little of the tension seeping out of him at the hope in Steve's voice. "Then you won't argue with me about feeding from me."

"Danny--"

"What happened to not arguing?" Danny shook his head. "Did it ever occur to you that I want this? That I want to know you're taking this cure, becoming human, with _my_ blood flowing through you, and not some stranger's blood out of a bag? Huh?"

Steve blinked, like it was taking him a couple seconds to process that Danny actually wanted that. But then his eyes narrowed, one hand reaching for the back of Danny's head as Steve lowered his to capture Danny's lips. 

He'd thought kissing Steve was amazing before, but this...clearly Steve had been holding back. Danny was pretty sure he'd find Steve's name engraved on the back of his throat when they were done. And he was okay with that. 

Danny reached for Steve's waistband, but Steve put his hands on Danny's as he pulled back out of the kiss. "Hang on," Steve said, and in a flash and a burst of wind he was gone, then suddenly back again. He held up the lube from the nightstand in his room, a grin on his face that told Danny there was no embarrassment about showing off his vampire abilities. 

"That speed thing is kind of handy," Danny said, pulling him into another kiss. There was no flurry of speed as they undressed each other, though. They took their time, tasting skin as it was revealed, until they were both naked. 

Danny thought Steve was finally going to feed as he kissed the inside of Danny's wrist, pausing for a second, lips rubbing the skin there where it met the bandage from before, making Danny shiver with anticipation. He didn't remove the bandage, though. He just made his way further up Danny's arm until he reached Danny's neck. 

"Turn around," Steve said into Danny's ear, sending a long shiver through Danny's entire body. 

Danny complied clumsily, knees pressing into the couch cushion, his hands griping the arm of the couch. He was distracted by Steve's lips and hands, seemingly reluctant to leave Danny's body for so much as a second. Danny heard a soft plastic click, and a second later, Steve's fingers were pressing inside Danny, two fingers insistent, and just on the right side of painful. 

He pushed back, wanting more, as Steve's lips grazed his neck. Danny tilted his head to provide better access, and Steve kissed his way down the muscle from Danny's ear to where his neck met his shoulders as Steve's fingers opened Danny up carefully. 

"Come on," Danny muttered, pushing back harder, wanting more than Steve's fingers. Steve's chuckle was dark and beautiful as his fingers left Danny empty. Before Danny could complain, though, Steve's dick was there, pressing in, filling him up until Danny wasn't sure he couldn't contain everything. 

He felt Steve stop, his hips snug against Danny's ass, but still Danny pressed back, wanting more. Needing something else. "Fuck, Danny...you...just...fuck." 

The words made no sense, but Danny understood. He pushed off the arm of the couch to press his whole body back against Steve's, pulling Steve's arms around him and anchoring them in place with his own. Each thrust Steve made pushed Danny a little higher, a little closer to the sun, and he didn't even care if he burst into flames when he got there.

Then he felt Steve's lips on his neck again, moving down until they were almost to Danny's shoulder. Before Danny could figure out what was going on, Steve's teeth pierced the skin there, sweet and sharp. 

Danny had thought Steve feeding off his wrist had felt good, but that paled in comparison to this. He gripped Steve's arms as though they were the only things that would keep him from falling apart as the pleasure spiked through him, nerve by nerve, vessel by vessel, as if each individual molecule in his body was getting off all at once.

He must've hit the sun, because that was the only explanation he could think of for the explosion that ripped through him, more pleasure than he could have dreamed possible in a seemingly never-ending feedback loop inside his body. 

He had no idea how much time had passed when he could actually feel his limbs again. He knew he was lying on his side on the couch, Steve wrapped around him. He could also feel a band aid of some kind on his neck. 

Steve's arms loosened as Danny turned slowly, carefully in Steve's arms to face him. "Hey," Danny said, surprised at how scratchy his voice was. "Do I even want to know why I sound like I've been strangled?"

"Um..." Steve's face was somewhere between proud and abashed. "Probably not?"

Danny managed to raise an eyebrow. "Probably?"

"Well, there's a chance that the neighbors on both sides aren't home?"

"Oh, God." Danny closed his eyes for a brief moment before he decided he didn't really care. They would probably just be jealous anyway. He opened his eyes and met Steve's gaze. "You okay?"

Steve nodded, his eyes clear, unclouded by doubt or concern. "I'm good," he said, arms tightening a little around Danny. "You?"

"Great. Fine. Fantastic. As apparently your whole neighborhood knows."

Steve laughed. "You did seem to, um, enjoy that."

"Yeah." He felt a little stab of guilt over that, knowing how Steve had been so reluctant at first to feed. "And you?"

"It was...." Steve searched for the words for a few seconds. "Amazing falls short," he said finally.

"Not changing your mind about the cure?" Danny asked, though he knew the answer before he asked.

Steve's head shake was immediate and emphatic. "Absolutely not," he said. "But it reminded me that it wasn't all bad," he said more slowly. "And that that's okay."

Danny smiled as he leaned in for a kiss. "Glad to hear it," he said, pressing his face into Steve's chest as he yawned. "We have some time before we have to leave, right?"

"About four hours."

"Good." Danny yawned again, settling more comfortably in Steve's embrace. "Wake me up in a little bit."

"Sure thing, Danno."

***


	3. Chapter 3

Danny managed to distract Steve for a while, but by the time it got dark, Steve was pacing. He asked Danny what time it was so often that Danny finally set an alarm on his phone for time to leave and dared Steve to so much as look at his watch again. 

The alarm finally sounded, and they left. Steve drove to an office building in downtown that Danny thought probably shouldn't be open this time of night, but the guard passed them right through without question.

"Your friend Josef come here often?"

Steve shook his head as he got on the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. "No," he said, watching the doors close and the numbers slowly climb, "but I wouldn't have put it past him to buy the building and the guards."

Danny stared at him for a moment before deciding he wasn't kidding. "Just how rich is this guy?"

"If you had over 400 years to make money," Steve said, raising an eyebrow at Danny, "how much would you have?"

"Probably none, once my exes took it all away."

Steve laughed as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Danny followed as Steve checked numbers on the doors along the hall, before stopping to knock on a door. 

"Right on time, as usual," Josef said, as he opened the door and let them in. 

"I'd have been early if I didn't know that you'd only make me wait longer because of it."

"Nice to see some things don't change," Josef said. "In here."

He led them through another door into a lab full of equipment. "I drive by this building every day," Danny said, looking around, "and I never knew all this was here."

"That's because it wasn't," Josef said. "Not until yesterday."

"You got all this set up in a day?"

"Two days," Josef said with a shrug. "The fact that this place uses 'island time' as an excuse for 'slow' is yet another reason I don't like to come here."

Danny liked the guy a little more after that, but Steve just grinned. "I like it here."

"You would." Josef led them through the equipment to where a small man was seated on a stool over a microscope. Danny had expected a team of nerdy scientists, but this guy looked like he just stepped off Willie Nelson's tour bus. "Mi--sorry, Steve, Danny, this is Jeff."

Danny frowned at the guy, with his long hair and his frayed jeans and t-shirt. "Jeff?" he said, looking between Steve and Josef. "This is your scientist?"

"The best labs in the world couldn't replicate the cure," Josef said. "So we went outside the box."

Privately, Danny thought that guy was so far outside the box he was counting invisible sheep in someone else's box. But he wasn't going to say it, not if there was a chance this guy could actually cure Steve. "It's...definitely outside the box," he said, nodding and smiling at Jeff.

"Jeff has PhDs in biology and botany," Josef said. "And he's almost completed one in chemistry."

Which sounded like an interesting combination, at least for what Danny understood of what they needed. At least he sounded smart. "So is this cure his dissertation?"

"Unfortunately, this cure won't ever get publicized," Josef said, giving Jeff a look that even Jeff appeared smart enough to heed. "Because it would be a shame to deprive the world of all the other good Jeff can do after certain vampires got wind that he'd created it and drained his body of all its blood."

Steve nodded at a beaker of murky green liquid sitting beside the microscope. "Is that the new cure?"

"Part of it," Jeff said, picking up the beaker and holding it out to Steve. "Drink this."

Steve's brow furrowed. "Drink it? I always put the cure in an open wound."

"You will, but drink this first."

Steve lifted the beaker and drank it down in one go, making a terrible face when he finished. "Oh come on," Danny said, "that can't be any worse than that nasty wheatgrass stuff you drink in the mornings." 

"Trust me," Steve said, sounding like he was still having to fight to keep the drink from coming back up, "it was."

Jeff took the beaker from Steve's hand and put it back on the table. "Come here," Jeff said, motioning for Steve to bend over until Steve's face was in reach. Jeff took a pen light and flashed it in each of Steve's eyes like a doctor in an ER. He frowned and checked his watch, waiting a number of seconds before he tried the same move again. 

This time he looked a little happier with the results before looking back at his watch. He checked Steve's eyes three more times before he finally put the light down. "Okay," he said, picking up a metal container and opening it before holding it out to Steve. "Now put this in a wound." 

Danny leaned over Steve's arm as he took the container to see the contents. It looked something like the traces of material that had been in the one Steve had at home. Jeff handed Steve a knife, who looked at it, then at Danny.

Steve held the knife out to Danny. "You want to do the honors?"

He would've thought Steve would want to do this, but one look at Steve's eyes and Danny got it. Or, rather, he realized that Steve got it. He understood the importance Danny had placed on being the one Steve fed from before the cure. He knew just how Danny felt about being the one to help make him human again. 

"Yeah, I do," Danny said, clearing his throat as he took the knife. He cut into Steve's forearm, then at Steve's nod at the metal container, Danny took a little of the red stuff on the knife and applied it to the cut.

The cut stayed open, a thin red line of blood on the surface. "Is it supposed to do that?" Danny asked, looking up at Steve.

Steve's eyes were bright, the crinkles around the corners matching the smile that was growing on his face. "It is," he confirmed, tearing his eyes away from the cut to meet Danny's gaze. "That means the cure is working."

Danny smiled back, knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that they both probably looked like grinning idiots. He didn't care, though, because Steve had more of the cure, and they could go back to their lives, only with--

"Fuck!" Steve doubled over, holding his arm against his stomach.

Danny tried to pull Steve's arm out so he could see. "What happened?"

"Fuck!" Steve said again, falling onto his side before making some kind of gurgling sound that Danny knew wasn't good, human or vampire. He looked up at Josef, who looked as surprised as Danny, and to Jeff, who just looked vaguely curious, before kneeling over Steve, who was writhing. 

"Steve! Hey, come on, tell me what's going on. What's it doing?"

He managed to get Steve onto his back, his body relaxing, that horrible sound finally stopping. "Danny?" Steve said, his voice almost a whisper.

"Yeah, I'm here. Is this normal?"

Steve's head shake was as weak as his voice. "Never...did...before...."

Danny looked up at Jeff. "If you poisoned him, I swear, I'll kill you."

"I didn't--"

"You didn't? Then what the hell is this?" Danny looked down at Steve. "There has to be something we can do right?" There had to be. Steve was indestructible, even in human form. In vampire form, he was fine, and anything that felled him could be fixed by blood.

Of course. Blood. Danny held out his wrist. "Here," he said. "Feed."

Steve shook his head. "Can't," he gasped out. "Human."

Shit. He was human and dying, and there wasn't a fucking thing Danny could do about it. "No," Danny said, because he would think of something. "There has to be something we can do. CPR."

"Danny...won't...work."

"You don't know that. You don't--" 

Steve's eyes fixed as one last breath left him, and Danny shook him. "Steven!" he said, "I swear to God if you die on me...." 

The words choked off as Danny realized the futility of screaming at someone who was dead. He looked up for another target, and Josef wisely backed off, leaving Jeff in Danny's line of sight. "You," Danny said, getting up and advancing on Jeff. "You killed him."

"I didn't--I gave him the cure." Jeff waved a hand at Steve's body. "He wanted to be human. I made him human."

"Yeah, you made him human, but a dead human! That is _not_ what he meant!"

"Look, let me explain--"

"Explain what?" Danny yelled. "How his soul is at peace because he didn't die a vampire or some bullshit like that? Because that is a load of crap! He's not at peace! He's not a soul! He's just fucking dead!"

A gasp from behind Danny made him whirl around to see Steve sitting up, looking like shit, and better than he'd ever looked in his life as far as Danny was concerned. Danny ran back over to kneel beside him. "Steve?"

Steve shuddered, then turned his head slowly to give Danny a weak smile. "Hey." 

"You, uh---"

"Died? Yeah, I noticed that."

And he seemed okay with it, though Danny thought it might be shock. Or maybe just a lack of comprehension that came with coming back from the dead--it wasn't like Danny had a lot of experience with this. "How do you feel now?"

"Better." Steve shifted around a little, like he was testing his muscles. He sniffed the air for a moment. "Human," he said, with a broadening smile.

"Human?" 

Steve nodded. "Yeah. Human." 

He put a hand on Danny's shoulder, and Danny helped him up. When Steve's knees gave out, Danny grabbed him, putting an arm under his shoulder to make sure he stayed upright until Steve got to a nearby chair. "You're really okay?" Danny asked.

"Yeah." 

Danny's eyes narrowed as he glared at Jeff. "You," he said, going back to where Jeff stood, peering across the table at Steve like he was a lab rat. "You."

"I tried to tell you that he--"

He was cut off by Danny's fist punching him in the face. "You didn't think to mention that _death_ was a side effect?" he yelled.

Jeff rubbed at his jaw, so Danny figured he didn't hit him all that hard. He had been aiming more for shock and less for broken jaw, after all. "I wasn't sure how that would work," Jeff said, still rubbing his jaw, and apparently torn between watching Danny warily and studying Steve from afar. "It was possible he would have to die for it to work. I just wasn't sure."

"Well is he okay now?" Danny asked.

"I don't know," Jeff said, rubbing his jaw a little harder and starting to glare at Danny. "Can I examine him without getting punched in the face?"

"Only if the result is that he's fine."

Danny stood back, though, waving his hand in an exaggerated fashion. After a second, Jeff scurried by him and over to Steve, flashing that light in his eyes and checking a few other things that made no sense to Danny. 

He drew some of Steve's blood and checked it under a microscope, grinning as he looked up from it. "Clean as a baby's. He's human," Jeff proclaimed. "And he'll live."

"Is that going to happen every time I have to take the cure?" Steve asked, not sounding too thrilled by the prospect.

Jeff frowned at him. "Oh, no, you don't have to take it again."

Steve stared at him for a long moment. "What?"

"This cure is permanent."

There was another long stare before Steve said, "I'm really human?"

Jeff nodded. "You're going to grow old and die, just like anybody else."

Danny could see the full knowledge sinking in for Steve about the same time it really started to set in for Danny. Steve was just Steve. No more vampire Mick St. John, no more hiding who he was or having to deal with the cure. 

He was just Steve.

"I almost feel bad for punching you," Danny said to Jeff as he slid past him to stand beside Steve. "But you didn't warn us."

"Would he have still taken the cure if he'd known it might put him through that?" Jeff asked.

"Yes," Steve said instantly, and Danny knew he was being honest. 

Danny wondered if he wouldn't have tried to talk him out of it if there was a chance it could kill him. He'd rather have vampire Steve or Mick or whatever than a gravestone. But, then, he didn't have to make that choice, because Steve was here and alive and one hundred percent human.

"Thank you," Steve said, holding his hand out for Jeff to shake. "I can't thank you enough."

"Keep your friend here from hitting me again and we're even," Jeff said with a smile.

Steve got up, and Danny tried not to hover too much. Steve seemed more steady than before, though, as he walked over to Josef. "I can't ever repay you."

Josef gave him a half smile and shrug, looking almost boyish for a second. "You already have, and then some," Josef said. "Consider it partial repayment to you."

They shook hands in what looked like an old-school method involving all four hands, and Danny resisted the urge to break them apart. "You'll take care of the cure now that we know how it works? Anyone forced into this deserves the right to have their life back. And if certain people knew it existed...."

Josef nodded. "I'll protect it. Though you have to appreciate the irony of me being the keeper of humanity."

"Don't worry, I won't ruin your reputation by telling anyone," Steve replied.

"Someone has to have it handy if you go crazy and get sucked in by another vampy...vamp."

Steve glanced at Danny before putting his arm around him, his smile warming Danny almost as much as the heat of Steve's body against him. "I don't think I have to worry about that," Steve said.

Josef rolled his eyes. "Clearly it's time for you two to go get a room," he said.

"Yeah, we have some...things to discuss," Steve said, and Danny didn't want to know if he was visibly blushing at the look Steve gave him.

"Nice meeting you," Danny said to Josef. "And thanks." He included Jeff in that last one, almost feeling bad about the bruise he could tell was forming on Jeff's cheek, though one more memory of Steve dead on the floor killed the guilt. 

Steve gave Danny's shoulder a squeeze. "Let's go home."

***

Danny drove home. That alone made it odd, but the events of the last two days made everything seem like some sort of dream that may or may not have happened. He wouldn't give up knowing everything he'd learned about Steve for anything, but a tiny part of him missed normal. He even missed Steve criticizing his driving, for fuck's sake.

He kept glancing at Steve, who was leaning into the passenger window, eyes closed. Apparently dying as a vampire and being reborn as a human --because fuck if Danny had another way to describe what happened-- was exhausting. 

Steve barely stirred when Danny pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. Danny called Steve's name softly, and his eyes blinked open. He looked around, confused. "Where...?"

"Home," Danny said, undoing Steve's seatbelt. He went around and opened the door, helping Steve out of the car. "Come on."

"'M fine," Steve said, pulling away and almost falling down. 

Danny got an arm around him again, made Steve sling an arm over his shoulder, and got him in the house and up the stairs. "Don't fall over," Danny said, letting him go long enough to pull the covers back on the bed. 

Steve remained standing, but he was wobbling the whole time until Danny gave him a little push, and he fell into the bed. "A Weeble you are not," Danny said, smiling down at him.

"Wha?"

"Never mind." Danny undressed him, shoving him into position on the bed. That done, he took off his own clothes and climbed into bed, pulling the covers up over them both and settling into Steve's arms. He took one moment to appreciate how warm and alive Steve was before he passed out.

***

Danny woke to Steve's warmth wrapped around him, Steve's dick between his legs, and Steve's hand moving down his abdomen. Danny stretched, loving the feel of Steve's skin against his body, amazed at how different it felt than it had when Steve had been a vampire. 

Not that it hadn't been good--all that muscle under cool skin that seemed appropriate somehow, like stretched steel--but this, warm and alive, with the scent of Steve that Danny had grown to love somewhere in all the time they'd spent together, this was incredible. 

Steve's hand found Danny's dick, already half hard, and teased it lightly with his fingers until Danny guided Steve's hand around it, both of them moving slowly up and down the length. Danny tightened his thighs together as Steve thrust between them, enjoying the slow, lazy build up until it wasn't enough.

He let go of Steve's hand and shifted around until he was facing Steve without ever entirely leaving his embrace. "Morning," Danny said. He could feel the smile on his own face, knew it was just as goofy as Steve's, but he didn't care. 

"Morning," Steve said, leaning in for a kiss. 

"How do you feel?" Danny asked.

Steve considered the question for a moment. "Human," he said finally, with another one of those smiles. "And it feels amazing."

"Good." Danny pulled Steve in tighter, thrusting against him, delicious friction still not quite enough, though Steve's lips making their way down Danny's jaw line wasn't something he was keen on giving up. He reached between their bodies and wrapped a hand around both of their dicks, increasing the sensation. 

"You have," Steve stopped to lick at Danny's neck, "the best ideas."

"I have an even better one," Danny said, nipping at Steve's chin.

Steve pushed into him hard, rolling him onto his back, with Steve on top of him. "What's that?" Steve asked, his nose bumping against Danny's.

"You need to fuck me."

Steve's eyelashes fluttered for a second before he smiled his way into a kiss. "Definitely the best ideas."

He kept kissing Danny, even as he reached for the lube on the nightstand. Only when it was in his hand did he stop, raising up onto his knees and looking down at Danny like it was Christmas morning and Danny was every present Steve had asked for under his tree. "I don't know what I did to deserve you," Steve said, suddenly serious.

"Something very bad, I'm sure." 

Steve laughed. "Well, whatever it was," he said, "I am very glad."

"Me, too."

Steve pressed a finger inside Danny as he leaned down for a kiss, continuing the kiss through two fingers and three. Danny whimpered when Steve removed his fingers and lifted his head. "Where do you think you're going?" Danny asked.

"I thought you wanted me to fuck you."

"Oh, right. That. Yes. Please."

He shouldn't have been surprised that Steve had a whole different way of laughing in bed, still beautiful, but with this darker undertone that seemed to come straight from around his Adam's apple, and made Danny want to lick every inch of his throat. Steve reached for the nightstand again, then stopped and looked at Danny as if he was trying to make a decision.

"What?" Danny asked.

"It's just...I mean, when I was...before, it wasn't a problem, and we didn't use a condom. I'm human, but the cure, it purifies my blood. There's almost no one on earth cleaner than me."

He bit his lower lip, and Danny resisted the urge to lean up and bite at the upper one. "Then we don't need one, do we?"

Steve's smile was bright as he took one more long kiss before working his way into Danny's body. For all that sex with vampire Steve had been exciting and almost overwhelming, sex with human Steve was so much better in so many ways. 

In addition to the sex itself, which was every bit as amazing, there was the smell and taste of Steve, hot and sweaty and delicious. There was no need for him to hold back his super strength or worry that he was going to bite and take too much blood, and Danny would never want to trade this complete abandon from the ultimate control freak.

And his stamina, Danny thought in a haze, coming for the second time while Steve was still thrusting into him. Steve was close, and Danny wanted to see the last shred of his control disappear, wanted to see what Steve was like when he was one hundred percent not in control of anything. "Come on," Danny said, heels digging into Steve's shoulders. "Come on. Give me everything."

Steve thrust hard one last time, and Danny could feel him coming inside. He had this insane urge to try to hold onto the moment as long as he could, before he realized he didn't have to. Because Steve wasn't going anywhere, the cure wasn't going to wear off, and they could do this over and over. 

A lot, if he had any say in the matter.

He stroked his hands up and down Steve's back, listening to Steve's breathing slow, harsh and warm against Danny's ear. When he'd recovered, Steve slid off to the side, still half covering Danny's body as he propped himself up just enough to look down at Danny. 

His attention was on Danny's neck, a small frown marring his face as he reached down and pulled off the band aid Danny had forgotten about. Steve ran his finger over the bite marks, and Danny shivered at the touch.

It made Steve's frown deepen, his eyes a little hooded, focused somewhere around Danny's chin. "Okay," Danny said, "out with it."

"What?"

"Whatever gave you your patented Scolded Schoolboy look. What insane thought is stuck in your brain?"

Steve licked his lips. "I was just wondering if you missed it."

"Missed what?"

He ran a finger over the bite again. "That was intense," he said, and Danny remembered all too vividly the pleasure of Steve feeding off him. "It's not the same now."

Danny didn't know whether to be amused or offended. "Are you saying that wasn't good?"

"No!" Steve finally met his eyes then. "It was perfect. I just...I didn't know if you missed it."

Danny considered smacking him, but given everything Steve had been through in the last few days, maybe he'd cut him some slack. Just this once.

He pushed against the mattress and rolled Steve onto his back so he could make sure he had Steve's full attention. "What makes sex with you so amazing is _you_ ," Danny said. "Not vampire abilities, not your Super SEAL Ninja moves, not even that thing you can do with your tongue--though let me go on record saying I encourage that as often as possible," Danny added. "But it's you. Just you. Okay?"

One corner of Steve's mouth quirked up. "Okay." 

"Good." Danny kissed him. "Now that we have that settled, what do you say to a shower?"

"I love long showers," Steve said quickly.

Danny laughed. "Good answer," he said, kissing him again. After all, lessons needed positive reinforcement.

\----

END

**Author's Note:**

> Want to learn more about me and my writing? Visit my page at <http://www.jamiemeadowswrites.com/>

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [ART: Knife](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1289440) by [kjanddean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjanddean/pseuds/kjanddean)




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